So many people turned out to testify against SB3 last month that the public hearing before the Senate elections committee had to be moved at the last minute to Representatives’ Hall. This time around, Tuesday’s hearing before the House election law committee is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. in that same larger chamber from the outset.

Meanwhile, a coalition of left-leaning groups have continued their efforts to push back against the legislation – organizing weekly phone banks, letter-writing campaigns and coordinating carpool trips to the Statehouse, with the goal of drumming up another large showing of opposition for the House hearing.

National voices have also started to weigh in: Priorities USA, a super PAC initially set up to support former President Barack Obama's re-election bid, launched a digital campaign targeting the senators backing SB3; while former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander penned a recent column for the Nashua Telegraph opposing the legislation.

One of the provisions that drew the most ire at SB3’s first public hearing last month was a proposal to allow police to visit the homes of voters who didn’t provide the right kind of ID at the polls.

In response to public criticism, including pushback from the state’s police chiefs, bill sponsor Sen. Regina Birdsell changed the legislation to allow election officials, not law enforcement, to perform those checks. Otherwise, much of the bill has remained unchanged since its last public hearing.

The bill has the support of the Secretary of State's office and Republican leadership, including Gov. Chris Sununu.

Now that we've passed the halfway point of the legislative session, only about a quarter of the voting reforms proposed this session are still alive. Initially, lawmakers introduced dozens of bills proposing changes to the state’s voting procedures, election technology and oversight — but many have been rejected or retained in committee, effectively putting them on hold for the foreseeable future.

Related Content

A voting requirements bill now in the N.H. House has drawn huge attention this year and continues to generate questions about domicile, voter fraud, and access at the polls. Supporters say even the perception of cheating at the ballot box is unacceptable, while critics call SB3 a "voter suppression" bill.

Secretary of State Bill Gardner says he would not support legislation if he believed it would hurt voter turnout. And as he sees it, a new bill that would impose new requirements on voters who register within 30 days of an election does not run the risk of doing that.

There’s plenty of debate in New Hampshire right now around the question of who should be allowed to vote here. A big part of that lies in figuring out when — and why — a person calls New Hampshire their home. Answering that question, however, isn’t always straightforward.

The bill's lead sponsor, Republican state senator Regina Birdsell, insists it simply ensures that each vote cast in New Hampshire is valid and that voters meet certain requirements. She says she removed elements that were especially objectionable to opponents, including involvement of local police in helping to confirm voters' addresses.